Warriors guard Monta Ellis returned to Oracle Arena onFriday night, the site where he scored a lot of points and won over a lot offans.Ellis, of course, was traded on Tuesday to the MilwaukeeBucks as part of a trade that sent center Andrew Bogut to the Warriors.Before the game, Ellis talked about the Warriors fans andhow much they meant to him.
I love the fans here, said Ellis, who was in Milwaukeesstarting lineup. They did a lot for me even through my ups and downs. Theyalways had my back here, always. I felt loved by the fans here and I think Ican call them part of my immediate family and Im always going to rememberthem.Those fans gave Ellis a standing ovation when he wasintroduced with the Bucks starters, and Ellis acknowledged the crowd withraised hands. During the first timeout, the Warriors paid tribute to Ellis and to a lesser extend second-year forward Ekpe Udoh, also involved in thetrade and it elicited another standing ovation.Ellis was asked if he thought it was time for a newbeginning, and he acknowledged it was.I knew it was going to come to this point at one point inmy life, Ellis said. I used to be that young guy coming in and playing behindBaron (Davis) and Stephen Jackson and then they got traded. I knew one day thatsome young guy was going to come in behind me and do the same things so I wasprepared for it. Like I said, I left on a great note, had a great career hereand I can say that I wish them the best and I think it was a great trade forboth teams.